Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Inspired Streetsweepers

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."

-Rev. Martin Luther King-

We each have inside the yearning to be the greatest at something. We want to be remembered for greatness that will carry our name in the memory of history for others to read about. We want to be remembered like those individuals who remain in the minds and teachings of people well into the future.

Yet we can not all achieve that level of notoriety nor does it mean true success if we do. Success means doing the very best at what we do with our lives; how we live our lives; and what we do for others. Success means trying to be the very best 'streetsweeper' that one can be.

It does not mean that you should not strive for the most majestic of things. What it means to say is that regardless of what you do in life, do it the best way possible.

I will never be the greatest writer to live nor will historians mark my passing. But the words that I do write are done with the best effort I can muster. The words I write will impact people and change their lives in small and big ways. You have the same abilities to impact others and to impact life with how you live your life.

Take that 'thing you do' and do it the very best you can. It will impact the lives of others and inspire them to something greater. In the end there will be those that do say, "here lived a great person who did his job well."